AP/Drudge/MSNBC: "Series of Strong Explosions Heard in Central Baghdad"

MSNBC/Drudge | 11.3.03

[mhking]

That's all we've got; no details yet.

[cardinal4]

That is a cool map! Thats the way it should be!

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

think I'll try to use different words next time.

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm probably the only one who read it that way.

[A Simple Soldier]

C'mon dude, this is series.

[Mo1]

I know and they will learn the hard way

[TADSLOS]

What exactly is mortar fire?

High Angle Hell.

Chinese version of an 82mm mortar.

[Tree of Liberty]

This is truly becoming a nightmare for us and the good Iraquis. We must do something differently.

Don't wimp out. I presume that you're basing your assessment on news reports, and that's like looking through a keyhole from ten feet away. You hardly get the whole picture.

[zarf]

Funny, feel that way about some Southern Baptists I know.

[Tree of Liberty]

I like it too, except that Israel should extend East to the Tigris.

[Tree of Liberty]

Southern Baptist, here. So what's your beef.

[ASA Vet]

1. After
2. They can both get jobs on the oil platforms.

[Hildy]

I'm not talking about the whole picture. I'm talking about what this article is about.

[thoughtomator]

Rule of thumb for the Middle East:

"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy."

[GO65]

The noun "mortar" has 3 senses in WordNet.

1. mortar, howitzer, trench mortar -- (a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range)

2. mortar -- (used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall)

3. mortar -- (a bowl-shaped vessel in which substances can be ground and mixed with a pestle)


I'd guess that definition #1 applies here.

[Marylander]

We are at war. The enemy, which in the past was difficult because of dispersion, has simplified things for us by concentrating themselves in one area. That does not change the fact that we are at war, only makes things more favorable for us. Please review the statistics on how many Americans were killed yesterday by auto accidents, falls, murder, drowning, and such. And not one of them died in a way that will help to preserve freedom for all people.

These guys are protecting us. It is a dangerous business. They and their families deserve our gratitude. It does not help them if we whine and cringe.

[Steve_Seattle]

News flash: Jesus' Second Coming in progress . . . we cut away to Washington - flying saucer lands on White House lawn . . . we cut away for latest developments in Laci Peterosn case . . . we cut away - nude streaker disrupts Monday Night Football.

[Tree of Liberty]

Ok, in that regard, what do you suggest be done differently, as another poster asked you above?

[TheCrusader]

"What would you do with the Christians currently residing in the Middle East or would that be there tough luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Being a Christian in the Middle east has been a hard luck proposition since the 7th century, when Islam was hatched out of a reptile's belly and began slaughtering Christians.

[tazman3]

You forgot the car chase in LA

[Prodigal Son]

What exactly is mortar fire?

Hah! You are lucky because an 11 Charlie lurks this thread. An 11 Charlie is a military occupation specialty that specifically concentrates on the employment of mortars. It is a subset within the infantry MOS.

A mortar is actually named the same as a pharmacist's mortar because the old mortars looked exactly like a pharmacist's mortar- a short squat tube. Today, the tubes are a bit longer but the principle is still the same.

The way a mortar works is you have a tube of some sort set up at an angle of say 45 degrees or greater- or 0800 mils or greater in mortar man speak. The tube has a firing pin in the bottom (but doesn't have to). The mortar round is like a big fat bullet- it has a primer at the bottom. You drop the mortar round down the tube where it lands on the firing pin, setting off the primer which sets of the propellent charge. The expanding gases from that charge force the round out of the tube at a high rate of speed.

Because the tube is set at such a high angle, the mortar is considered an indirect fire weapon. Mortar fire is commonly called High Angle Hell because of this. A mortar is a good anti-troop weapon and is good to suppress armor but not so much to destroy it. More to make them button up and leave than anything else. But repelling infantry or light vehicle attacks, illuminating an area (mortar illumination is the brightest on the battlefield), laying smoke screens, attacking bunkers etc- all standard missions for the mortar. They are also good at hitting the backsides of hillsides (which is more of a problem for artillery) because of the high angle of fire.

They come in various sizes- 60mm, 81mm, 107mm (or 4.2 inch commonly called Four Deuce) and the new 120mm. The larger mortars have an effective kill radius of about 35-40 meters and a range of around 7 kilometers. The two smaller ones can be carried on the backs of infantrymen, the two larger ones are two heavy for that and must therefore be carried on a truck or tracked vehicle.

Mortars are controlled by FOs (Forward Observers) who call in the fire missions to the mortar platoon and adjust the rounds thereafter. Even though it seems like lobbing a shell at a high angle is sort of willy nilly, mortars can be surprising accurate when employed skillfully.

Terrorists like mortars because they are simple to use and it keeps them far enough from the target that they can run afterwards. The IRA has reduced the home made mortar to a science.

Hope that helps.

[huck von finn]

Another explosion in Karbala (BBC), and a roadside or car bomb in Tikrit.

All of this is happening at once.